Moving from offline to online business - challenges, trends and predictions

The latest events might change our workflow forever, forcing companies to include hybrid solutions in strategy and operation models that don’t seem to fit their needs anymore. The demand for creating more remote job positions is rising thanks to the flexibility it gives both to managers and employees. Although changes started to take place a few months ago, business owners still can feel their resonance today.

The need for moving to digital is just the tip of the iceberg. To make the process smooth and to get the most out of what the online world has to offer, thinking about the future should start today. The Infoshare conference is a perfect example of adapting to the new reality by using technology solutions like webinars.

To be prepared for emerging business trends let’s focus on the predictions, which might help you implement fresh ideas before your competitors do.

A big moment for new technologies

With the trend of moving to digital, the demand for new technologies is higher than ever. This is the idea behind the Infoshare conference - we believe that it’s crucial to be up to date with newbies from the IT industry and to build a competitive advantage as soon as possible with such knowledge. Each person has their own point of view and business background, and this variety of our conference participants enables them to get a bigger picture of the rising possibilities. During Infoshare you’ll meet over 150 experts and get to know the hottest trends and the most burning issues.
Here are the general predictions about what’s ahead of us in the near (and slightly farther off) future.

Moving to online is becoming inevitable

During this year, we could see a rise of interest in the digital marketing field. More and more companies are moving online to reach a wider audience and to have a backup if they were forced to shut down their showroom stores again. Each industry has to face its specific problems and challenges, so the method of entering the digital world differs. Business owners are trying many tactics to make their enterprises competitive online, no matter if it’s a handcraft store, restaurant or a museum.

The reasons for implementing new channels to reach clients are plentiful. One of them is that digital advertising is cost-effective and lets you target your potential customers more precisely. They can run conversion ads on Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn and analyze the gathered data. Such actions give more control over the value chain and help to differentiate the places where new leads can be generated. All of this is just the tip of the iceberg but can already boost a marketing strategy. Besides that, using social media is essential to keep in touch with your followers, which is especially important in light of events during the year 2020 and an omnipresent uncertainty about the future.

Companies are getting creative and trying to show anything that their followers might find attractive in order not to lose connections with them. They are also showing their social responsibility in order to be perceived as trustworthy. Guinness is one such brand.

source: Twitter

Emerging business trends in marketing

Although during the pandemic companies tried to cut expenses in many areas, they quickly saw how much potential there is in digital advertising. We could see how brands were entering the Internet world and creating new content to attract customers. This business trend is going to be sustained and increasingly exploited according to the latest research.

Plugging into digital ecosystems

In the study above, experts say that stopping online marketing actions leads to chaos and being pushed out of the loop. That’s why in the future sellers would not only try to be a part of the e-commerce industry, but also invest in building their position on the web. Brands will engage affiliates in their marketing strategy to reach a wider audience and rely on connections between influencers and their followers. The big fishes, beyond starting new collaborations, are likely to double the relationships they already have.

Predictions on sales engagement

Forrester forecast that more companies, mostly customer data platforms (CDPs), will move from data integration to activation. The goal is to reach audiences more precisely, and then maintain good relations with clients. These actions aim to automate and arrange buyer journeys to leverage the level of customer experience. This is possible thanks to implementing AI solutions and a more comprehensive range of integrations. Also, companies that implement sales enablement solutions into their marketing strategy tend to generate better ROIs. That’s why probably over half of all B2B companies will empower their employees with such resources. The increase in the number of transactions that are closed digitally shows that this sector is evolving.

source: Business Insider Intelligence Report

Is time up for TikTok?

It was not long ago when Business Insider concluded that by the end of 2020, social media marketers would have to expand and polish their TikTok strategies. As claimed in their report, ad prices on this platform jumped by 50% from Q4 2019 to Q1 2020 alone. TikTok is the most downloaded app in any quarter in history, as it had generated around 315 million installs at the beginning of the year. It seemed to be a perfect place to reach youngsters, that is until the US president announced his plan on banning the app. Marketers are holding their breath and waiting for the final decision before knowing if taking any actions on TikTok in the USA would be profitable. 

The future of work-life and e-commerce

The rising demand for more remote work solutions

Recently we could observe changes to the traditional workflow. The numbers speak for themselves, as remote work is expected to increase by 77% between 2019 and 2022. Automation of most job positions increased, including manufacturing and factories. According to Hubstaff, the number of companies using employee-monitoring services increased by more than 50%. Also, over 80% of Fortune 500 companies plan to invest more in unique software systems in order to make remote work seamless and more comfortable to handle.

source: Business Insider Intelligence Report

E-commerce business trends for Q4 2020

With a higher rate of online transactions, companies will focus more on e-commerce advertising. The trend for buying products online rather than in-store is likely to last, and thus customers will probably spend more money on digital purchases. Up to 54% of consumers worldwide confirmed that they would continue using contactless payments and delivery. This also applies to daily grocery shopping - a whopping 45% of Americans declared that they would keep buying through the online store.

Upcoming business trends in the tech field

Enterprises specializing in technology have been on top for a long time now, but this year many have had their “mic-drop” moments. Research shows that such businesses will enhance their services even more compared to recent years in the field of frameworks, tool offerings and tokenization of assets (both digital and physical). Companies will bet on increasing operational facets like interconnectivity between networks. Which other aspects will develop?

AI consistently on the rise

In the near future, focus is likely to be on the value of AI, especially securing data leaks and exploring machine-learning or deep learning projects. With the expanding e-commerce and online business markets, customer services will use automated solutions like chatbots. Despite ever more progress in AI, 4 out of 5 conversational tools would probably still fail the Turing test. The numbers say that by the end of the year, such AI tools will power less than 20% of satisfying customer service interactions.

Healthcare goes digital

The first half of 2020 abounded in events that changed the perception of the medical sector. Patients started to pay more attention to their health and at the same time tried to take care of it by themselves as much as possible. Video calls with doctors have become a part of the new reality instead of regular visits to a hospital.

The rising demand for such software systems is shown clearly in the statistics. Since the start of the year, digital mental health enterprises earned 60% more than they did in 2019. The need for mental health apps is also higher than ever. They hit 4 million downloads in April alone, superseding the 3.1 million mark from January.

No wonder that the Big Four invest vast amounts into the healthcare market. Their actions are focused not only on helping other organizations, but also on the development of tech products that might assist with providing a wholesome lifestyle to users. How will their influence affect this sector? Only time will tell.

SaaS companies are growing with the rising demand for video streaming products

With the expansion of the tech market comes the development of SaaS products. They are a lifesaver for remote work issues, and it’s them that support events, which had to move online. To stand up to the challenge, platforms that provide tailored solutions have turned out to be salvation. This trend is going to last - besides, Infoshare is a perfect example of the new form of conferences that have adjusted their shape to market demands.

Digital video content pushes out the television industry

Research carried out by Business Insider shows that people are going to shift to more flexible solutions, which are the core of digital video platforms. Along with consumers, advertising is switching from traditional tv to online marketing. Linear TV will probably be pushed out due to its limitations, which not only impose the time of broadcast to their audience but also a lack social interactions.

Video platforms are also expected to grow in the sector of online meetings, as remote job positions are becoming a natural part of our labour market. Webinars and online courses are getting more and more popular in the world of digitalization. Special platforms enable students and employees to make remote brainstorming sessions and to work on their projects without the need to be in an office in person. An example of such a robust system is LiveWebinar, which besides its basic features offers an array of options. These include breakout rooms for group (or one-on-one) discussions and a whiteboard to get creative without the need to switch between tools. It also has integrations with Prezi and video streaming platforms, including YouTube and Vimeo, to liven up your presentation with unique films. You might get to know some of them firsthand, as LiveWebinar helps with making the online version of Infoshare a reality. 

Conferences might move entirely or partially online

The bigger the event, the harder it is to host it online. According to the same study, many summit coordinators decide to move conferences to digital since they find it a safer option for the current times. This is a challenge because social interactions are key to the success of such events, so companies are looking for centralized video services that can fully support their actions.

It is said that a shoemaker’s children are ill-shod, but not in our case. As a tech conference, we are working on making our online event the best experience possible. Two years ago Infoshare gathered over 6,000 participants, 200 speakers and investors, plus up to 200 start-ups. This year the number is expected to rise, and the whole event will take place entirely online for the first time. How is it possible to run such a huge conference digitally?

This report states that the video technology sector is working on developing more solutions to meet user expectations. During Infoshare, participants will be provided with complex solutions offered by LiveWebinar, which enables the audience to take an active role in the conference. Besides the possibility to listen to lectures given by experts online, the audience will be able to participate in Q&A sessions, meetups and contests. Everyone with a relevant pass will also be able to attend the online expo to visit partners and get to know their potential collaborators. All in digital, without the need to leave your living room.

The future starts today

Research shows that the end of 2020 and the following year is going to be a breakthrough time for automation technology, following global tendencies. Marketing, technology, the investment sector and businesses in general will rapidly change and evolve to fit the new reality. That’s why during Infoshare we’re focusing on high-value information straight from the experts in these fields.

In this article, we’ve gathered the key takeaways from upcoming trends that might form our future. Here we’ve only scratched the surface of the hottest topics in the industry, but during the conference you’ll get to know an array of insights. If you want to learn about emerging business trends, save the date and join us at the conference. You don’t need the newest tech devices to attend - LiveWebinar doesn’t require much in order to work seamlessly.

We hope to see you during Infoshare, and don’t forget to let us know your opinion about the first online edition of the event afterwards.